Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

 

- Birnam Wood is a deeply political novel for our times. It's intellectually challenging and confronting, but utterly absorbing. It has the most mature and robust dialogue between passionate characters that I've read in a long time, something that is very rare in literary fiction. Catton never condescends. 

- She offers us a penetrating scrutiny and assessment of each of her characters - their minds, hearts, talents, self-obsessions, grievances and more. It's a 'relentless interior critique' as she says at one point. 

- There’s been an earthquake in Korowai National Park near the town of Thorndike in New Zealand's South Island, and the whole area has been closed off. Mira Bunting is the founder of a group of young nature-loving activists who secretly descend on deserted parks and farmlands to plant vegetables and gardens. They've named themselves Birnam Wood from Shakespeare's Macbeth. 

- Mira drives to Thorndike to see the former sheep station that has been listed for sale. She is confronted by a man who's just landed on a field in a small plane. He is Robert Lemoine, an American billionaire, and founder of a large corporation that makes drones for surveillance purposes around the world. He tells her he's a 'doomsteader' and plans to build a bunker on the property to survive the 'coming apocalypse'. He's in the process of buying the farm. His real intention, however, is to secretly mine the extensive farmlands and surrounding hills for rare earth elements destined for top secret applications in defence against China. His radiometric drones have discovered them. He's seized on the opportunity to 'make trillions'. 

- There's a touch of Bond villain about Lemoine. He's a bit of a caricature. But another central character in the novel becomes a counter focus to this rather silly narrative and substantially rescues it. Tony Gallo was one of the founding members of the group in its early subversive days and is the epitome of the far left. He's intellectually formidable and an aspiring investigative journalist. His anti-capitalist rants against ‘the market’ at one of the group’s quarterly meetings is nothing short of brilliant. The novel's plot has evolved into a battle of political ideas. It's the extreme woke left versus the extreme ugly right. 

- At the same meeting Mira informs the collective that she's met Lemoine on the farm and that he's offered to generously fund their operations. Tony is horrified but he's outvoted. What none of them know is that Lemoine sees their work as a convenient cover for his secret mining operations. He has also compromised Mira’s phone and stolen her data. He’s quickly intruding into and taking over their lives. 

- Tony is suspicious and is determined to uncover the truth. He starts researching a long investigative article. He also drives to the farm, staying out of sight, but is spotted by the drones. His life is in danger.

- Catton embarks on a fairly detailed and complex denouement, as Tony and Mira wise up to what's really happening and Lemoine takes measures to protect himself and his covert operations. To avoid spoilers I can only say that death wins out in the end. Not life or hope or one party of the political divide. Just death. 

- Most reviewers have highly praised this third novel from Catton. I am a great fan of her first two The Rehearsal and The Luminaries. But although Birnam Wood is a vigorous and intellectually energising read, and on many levels highly satisfying, it's seriously flawed as well. 

Sebastian Barry, Old God’s Time.

 

- This new novel from celebrated Irish author Sebastian Barry is perhaps the best and most absorbing novel I’ve read in a long time. His two previous novels were set in America, but in this one he comes home.

- Much of contemporary Irish fiction has a certain flavour to it. Authors, like Claire Keegan, confronting the awful legacy of child abuse committed by priests and nuns, and the church authorities who denied the seriousness of it and hid it all away - 'nothing to see here'. They also pressured the police chiefs to cease further investigations. Everyone was a loyal Catholic.  

- There's a decidedly Irish lilt to Barry's prose, in its repetitive, circling, and mesmerising short sentences. His narrative often slides into another zone altogether, creeping up on you, shifting to a different time or a different place. There's a beautiful dreamlike texture to it. 

- Tom Kettle, aged 66, a retired police detective, is living a simple life on Dalkey Island across the strait from Dublin. He’s soft and quiet by nature and very introspective. Mental clarity, however, is something he doesn’t have. As the novel proceeds we learn why. Tragedy has been a constant burden. He’s visited by two former junior colleagues and his old boss who are seeking his help on an unresolved case from a decade ago. A priest was found in a ravine with injuries suggesting he was stabbed and pushed down a mountain. 

- We learn that Kettle's wife, an orphan, was constantly raped by this priest, and he himself, also an orphan, was constantly abused by a religious Brother. His police colleagues know this sad history. They ask him to submit to a DNA test. They know his anger at the priests and the senior police officers has always been fierce. 

- There are a number of other characters, including his two children, in this beautiful, haunting novel that flesh out the whole very satisfactorily. 

- One of Sebastian Barry's extraordinary gifts as a writer is his boundless capacity for empathy. (IRISH TIMES).

Mali Waugh, Judgement Day

- If you're looking for an Australian crime thriller that's not another standard outback noir iteration then this is it. It's Mali Waugh's first novel and it's riveting. 

- It's set in Melbourne's CBD and upmarket eastern suburbs. As the police drive around, a lot of streets and buildings are constantly named and cafes visited. And houses are brought to life as vividly as in a real estate brochure. 

- Kaye Bailey, a senior family law court judge has been murdered during a gathering of her colleagues to honour the current Chief Justice who is retiring. Ironically, she was named as his replacement. 

- There's a taste of the Death in Paradise TV show in the set up - a close community, a small group of characters who are all suspects, and the murder happening during a get-together. 

- What elevates this book well above the usual trope however is the way Waugh enriches the drama with her characters' personal stories. Detective Senior Sergeant Jillian Basset, who is leading the case, is a fascinating and complicated new mother, desperate to get back to work to escape the psychological trauma she has experienced since giving birth. Her colleague, McClintock, a young man who was acting Senior Sergeant while she was on maternity leave, is a blokey, sports-loving, fairly arrogant and sexist pain in the arse. In fact, as Jillian sees it, there are sexist men everywhere, particularly in the court. They are elitist, imposing and self-entitled. Her pungent thoughts on them as the investigation proceeds are conveyed to the reader in italics: 'There'll be a press conference later too' he added. Of course you wouldn't want to deprive the public of your precious mug.

- The narrative is full of rich details about the everyday jobs of the court justices, their assistants and the police. And the personal drama and complications of motherhood. Jillian is sharply observant. And Waugh's telling intimate and sensitive.

- Like all crime dramas there are suspects and surprises, tangents and dead ends, but this novel pulls them all together and comes to an extremely satisfying resolution. 

- The Epilogue is emotional and beautiful and had me in tears.